Improvement in preventing incrustation of steam-boilers



'geiten tutes @anni ffirm SAMUEL e. CABELL, or QUINGY, ILLINOIS. Lettera .Patent No. 72,794, dated .December 31, 1867.

die Srlgehule return tu in ttcse rtlets @anni nu making part nf the sume.-

TO ALL WIIOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL G. CABELL, of the city of Quincy, in the county of Adams, in the State of Illinois, have invented an Improved Apparatus for Removing Incrustatious or Scales from the Surface of Stearn- Boilers, and for other purposes; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull and exact description thereof, reierence being had to the annexed drawing, and the letters explanatory thereon.

In the drawing, A represents the section of an ordinary steam-boiler; B, the steam-dome; C, the steainpi'pe; D, the throttlefvalvc; E, the steam-cylinder; F, the piston; and Gr, the piston-rod. In the boiler the upper shaded line :r :v represents the water-level, and the portion above it the steam-chamber, and I-I the mudvessel or receiver and pipe,

I have used this form of boiler and engine because the extreme simplicity of its parts enables meto explain the nature of my invention with the greater facility, It is equally applicable to all forms of the steam-engine by adapting it to these forms. Of some of these Ishall speak hereafter.

Near the interior surface of the boiler I pass a wire, of silver, copper, iron, steel, or other proper metal, fastening one end to an insulated pin, passing it thence along the crown of the boiler, when the steam is dry,

and thence up through the steamdomwto the orifice of the steam-pipe, or near it, where it is joined by another wire from the front of the boiler, which is also insulated from the shell of the boiler by an insulated pin. These two wires being united, as stated, at or near the orifice of the steam-pipe at its junction with the steanndome, pass singly or doubly along the interior of the pipe to the throttle-valve, where they connect with the throttlevalve stem.

The object of these wires is to conduct the thermo-electricity, produced in the boiler when in operation, to a safe part of the machinery,`where it may be disposed of without danger. In stationary boilers, this wire of itself might perhaps be sucient to accomplish the purpose desired, but ou ships, boats, locomotives, tc., their motion would be constantly liable tobring it in contact with the shell of' the boiler, which it should not be allowed to do. -'.lo prevent this, therefore, I pass the wire through portions of glass tubes or beads, or otherwise enclose it in any non-conducting substance, as seen at b 1),'and at intervals secure metallic points thereto,

as seen at c c When the wire has to take a new direction, as in passing from the top of the boiler to the steam-dome, as at e, it is to be supported, to prevent its coming in contact with the metal of the boiler, by an insulated pin, or any other device capable of accomplishing the object. That portion of the wire f, which passes from the pin e to where it cornes in conjunction with the other wirej1 in the dome, may or may not need covering. 'lo render assurance doubly sure, I insert a cluster of metallic points in or near the mouth of ,the steam-pipe (l, where it connects with the steam-dome. From this point the wire is insulated throughout the steam-pipe to the throttiewalvc, substantially as described in speaking of the boiler, and armed with a suitable number of conductingpipes. Silver havingr the highest power of conductivity amongst metals, Iprcfer its use, but copper or even iron or steel may be used for the wire.

It is evident that, by an arrangement ot`tbis character, all the electricity or thermo-electricity formed in the steam-cavity or its connecting steam-pipes, must be conducted away quietly, and, it" necessary, discharged harmlessly through the throttle-valve stern and its connections to 'the earth or water.

It has been decided by experimeutalists that the introduction of electrical conductors into thesteaui-cavities of boilers, prevents the precipitetions from the boiling water from accumulating in crusts or scales upon the surfaces exposed to the water, these proeipitations falling down in an unaggreguted or loose state to the bottom. But these matters in that place seriously interfere with the etlciency of the boiler, by interrupting the action of'the re upon the water, and may, by their accumulation of thermo-electricity, be otherwise objectionable. To obviate these diflculties I have devised two plans, which I will proceed to describe.

In the drawing, hereto annexed, I represents the one-half of a. screw-formed brush, made of metallic wire on a metallic handle, i, the ether halt', not represented, having its convolutious in au opposite direction to thoseY /shown in the drawing. One or both of the eutremities of the handle pass through a stuHing-box insulated in the end of vthe boiler, and a revolving motion given to it by means of a crank-handle, 'i'. The effect ot' this arrangement is, that, when this screw is set in motion in the proper direction, the precipitated material in the bottom of the boiler is propelled from both ends of the boiler towards the centre, and deposited in the mud-` vessel H, from whence it is blown ofi' by opening the mud-valve attached thereto.

The other plan is to use a broom, K, attached to a handle, k, which also passes through an insulating stufling-box in the end ofthe boiler to a handle, k', on the outside of the boiler. This broom is made of' metallic wire, andas there are two of them, one on each side of the opening for the mud-vessel H, they may be both Worked by one handle, or ach by a separate handle, one'oi` which passes through oneend and the other through the other end of the boiler. These brooms produce, by their movement back and forth, substantially the same mechanical eicct as the screw, that is, remove the accumulated matter in the bottom of the boiler to the mudvessel H, besides which they draw o`, through the attractive influence of their metallic points, all the electricity in this part and in the accumulated precipitations, and discharge it through the conductors L or M into the Wires in the interior of the boiler before described. The wire or conductor L makes its connections with the Wiref through an insulating-orifice, l, and M through a similar orifice at a. The other ends of these two wires, L and M, are so connected with t" and la", 'that the connection between them may be broken at pleasure. The handle lz: of the broom K passes, like vthat of I, through an insulating stalling-box in the end of the boiler.

For greater security, the haudleof the throttle-valve, as well as that of the broom k and that of the screwcrank z", should be made of or protected by some non-conducting substance, such as glass, porcelain, hard rubber, or the like.

Instead of conducting the electric wire, as shown, through Vthe steam-pipe C, it may be passed, by an insulated opening, through the side of the dome directly to the throttle-valve, or to some other proper terminus for discharge to the earth or water.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, in the above-described invention, is

l. I claim the application to steam-boilers of an electrical conductor, arranged to convey the electricity from within the boiler or steam-space to the exterior ot' the boiler, said conductor being insulated where itpasses through the shell 'of -the boiler, substantially as described. l

2. In combination with au electrical conductor, arranged as described, I claim the use of permanent magnets, located within'the boiler, substantially as set forth.

S. G. CABELL.

Witnesses:

RALPH P. DARBY, H. KING. 

